


Strings

by MUTEDMICHAEL, Mystiquelove



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Michael works at a record store, Muke - Freeform, Romance, basically luke breaks his guitar strings for Michael, bc im muke af, some weird cute shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-03-01 18:48:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2783903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MUTEDMICHAEL/pseuds/MUTEDMICHAEL, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystiquelove/pseuds/Mystiquelove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Is it everyday that you break your guitar strings?"</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>  <i>"I only break them to see you."</i></p><p> </p><p>Or, an Au in which Michael works at a record shop and Luke basically breaks his guitar strings everyday just to see him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Mystiquelove** : okay guys this is the first time my friend _MUTEDMICHAEL_ has ever made a fic so go easy on her, yeah? It would also be the first time i'd be co-writing a story so, hope it satisfies everyone's needs!

**Michael**

“My life in a nut shell.” I sighed as I sat down on the rusty stool that made a ‘creak!’ sound every time I tried to adjust my seat.

I could spy with my little eye some tiny cobwebs forming on every inch of the shop, as well as the particles of dust that decided to cover each record stand.

“Ugh.” I shuddered.

The smell of dust on the records that haven't been touched sickens me and the little spiders on the vintage guitars  re starting to scare the crap out of me. The only reason why I’m still here is probably because I get to listen to Blink and Green day’s records for _free_.

That, and the fact that barely any customers come but yet you still get the pay, in cash for doing absolutely nothing but listening to Greenday and Blink all day long.

Perfect job with a perfect pay.

(Minus the spiders.)

The little bell on the door rang, and I jolted in surprise before sprinting out of my chair to see who walked in. A customer, that’s rarer than a diamond.

 _Really. Rare._ I thought as a tall, _handsome as fuck_ blond guy entered. Holy fuck.  Ripped shirt and skinny jeans dying to be removed and- what the fuck is that a lip ring?

The blond guy started coming closer to me, and I could feel like my heart started beating faster than the speed of light.

 _Blue. Eyes._ Perfect blue eyes. Kill me. Now.

“Hey, I was wondering if you could fix my guitar string that happened to snap?" Perfect guy asks with that beautiful accent and baritone voice I can find myself hypnotized in as he drags syllable to another syllable.

 _Calm the fuck down Michael. Play cool, play cool._ "Um sure where is it?" I asked normally as I bent over the counter. Thank goodness my voice didn’t crack.

 "Oh wait,” He ponders for a minute before coming to realization. “Right, It’s in my car. Lemme go get it." I watched murmur some incoherent noises as he walked out of the shop.

While he did that I went to the guitar aisle and took the strings he may be needing, as well as played the record ‘So wrong, It’s Right’ by all time low- because hey, why not.

“I’m back.” He said once he entered the shop again before placing the acoustic guitar gently on the counter top.

I inspected the guitar string that snapped literally in the middle. “This is pretty bad, it looks like someone purposely got a nail cutter and snapped the string in half.” I joked, only to see Mr. perfect guy flinch before nodding slowly.

My shoulders deflated a little. So he didn’t like that joke. I shrugged and grabbed the correct string packet before tearing the package and working on fixing the string.

"I’m Luke, by the way." He said a few minutes later as he was browsing through the records on the aisle, the exact same when I was busy re-tuning his guitar.

“ _And im Mikel (And I’m Michael)_.” I replied, sounding a bit gibberish because of the string in my mouth. “ _So Luk, whut shkool do ya go to? (So, Luke, what school do you go to?)”_

Thank god Luke understood me as he walked to my side, placing down a record near me before replying, "Rendale High school."

I blinked in surprise. "That’s weird; I go there too yet I’ve never seen you before."

"But I've seen you." His voice sounded weird and quiet and sad all of a sudden, making me raise an eyebrow at him. “Sorry, huh?”

He suddenly snaps out of his daze, cheeks suddenly flushing bright pink till it reached his ears. “Oh, uhm. It’s nothing.”

"Okay." I nodded unsurely.

Silence. The only sound that came was from tuning the guitar and it remained like that was until I was almost finished fixing the strings unto the fret board.  
  
"I like your hair." He suddenly says, quietly and soft. “Reminds me of the green light.”

I suddenly chortle out a laugh and in no time I started laughing because, a _green light,_ he compared my hair to a green light out of all things.

He just stared at me with no movement the whole time, making my laughter slowly die down. "Er, Is there something on my face?" I asked after a while of no response but staring.

Then he decided so speak. "That was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard" He said absentmindedly before quickly realizing what he just said. “Uhm, sorry. Ignore that.”

Before I could even get a chance to say anything he was already sprinting his way out of the door.

Without his guitar.


	2. Chapter 2

**Michael**

They walk to home felt very long and very chilly, with thoughts on Luke never leaving my mind. It was like my brain decided to feed on every bit and inch of detail about Luke from the moment I exited the shop all the way the walk home.

“But god, it’s really cold out here.” I shivered, trying to shake of the cold weather before trying to cover myself with the thin layer of clothing I got myself earlier the day, too ignorant to think of bringing a jacket earlier.

I entered my doorway, kicked off the shoes at the side before making my presence known. “Mom! I’m home!”

 

** ** **

“ _So, he knows you, but you don’t know him?_ ” Calum says at the other end of the line, intrigued. “ _Well, that’s…new_. _And weird. And creepy as fuck._ ”

“Yup.” I shut the door of my room before and threw myself on my bed, playing with the stuffed toy- Daniel- a toy I received a long time ago from someone I don’t remember. Don’t ask why it’s still with me, even I don’t know the answer to that.

“ _But you find this weird because how could you miss such a ‘perfect hot guy’ in the hallways when in fact you could’ve been writing his name a thousand times on the back of your notebooks?”_

“Ahuh.”

 “ _Mikey, listen here. Have you ever thought that it could be just you being ignorant with your surroundings? Did you ever think of that? And the fact that he might be a stalker?”_

“Nope.”

“ _Typical Michael reaction.”_ I can hear him deadpan on the other end of the line. Jerk. “ _Anyway, he left his guitar, yeah?”_

“Yup.”

“ _So, that gives you another chance to see him! You can make things clear between you and him, in case you forgot. And you can call the cops if he harasses you, always make sure to keep your phone next to you, okay?”_

“Oh. Okay.”

“ _Yes, now please let me go to sleep, It’s 2 in the fucking morning and you should be lucky I even answered your phone call, dipshit. And answer me with one more word next time and I will cut your balls off.”_

“Scary.”

 _“Michael, you will fucking die, tomorrow. Watch me.”_ And then the phone hangs up.

Okay, now _that’s_ scary.

** ** **

 

The days that follow comes as slow and long as it should have. Maybe it could be because I was anxiously waiting for Luke to pop in any moment right now.

 Well, either that or school is shitty.

Because, god, three days have passed since that incident and I _still_ have his guitar with me. I don’t know if that’s suppose to be something I should keep count of, but _clearly_ it’s been long enough that he hasn’t got his guitar back.

 _Maybe he forgot about it?_   As stupid as it sounds, I looked to the right to see his black guitar leaning against the wall. _Nah_. No way, how could one simply forget his guitar?

Just in that moment, the door of the shop swings open, and a frantic person enters, a frantic _tall_ person enters, someone I quickly recognized in a blink of an eye, because holy fuck it was Luke.

“I forgot about my guitar?” Is what he first says as soon as he opens his mouth.  Breathless, panting,  tired.

All things aside, I can’t believe he actually _forgot_ about his guitar. What even. “Impossible.” I managed to breathe out while looking at him ridiculously.

Luke blinks with those lovely _blue_ _blue blue_ eyes and wow what is life. “Sorry?”

I shake my head immediately. “N-nah, nothing.” I walked out of the counter in a hurry and fetched his guitar lying at the side. “Here, have it.” Luke takes it gracefully with ease and smiles apologetically. “Thanks.”

The next action I did was entirely stupid, stupid in the sense that I did not know _why_ I did it, I mean, it just casually happened.

As soon as he made an about turn, it was as if my body moved on its own accord as I _tugged_ his shirt, making him spin around in confusion. “Hey, uh, if you want your guitar fixed next time, you’re uh, always free to come here.” I faked cough and finished the sentence off with a commercial smile.

What am I doing with my life.

All of a sudden, like magic, Luke suddenly turns beet _red,_ head to toe. It was as if him awhile ago and him now were two different people.

He shyly nods his head, I repeat, _Shyly._ “Okay…” He says in the most adorable accent I’d ever heard and if that didn’t kill me, I’m probably immortal.

We stare at each other and it stays like that for a couple of minutes before we both realize that time has passed, making us snap into realization and blink away, looking anywhere else but at each other.

“Uh, I’m gonna head back now…” Luke trailed off very slowly, unsure, and embarrassed.

I nod, feeling the same, red as fuck and still not looking at him. “Yeah, you do that.” I said while looking down at the floor. Wow, the patterns of the tiles are actually really complicated.

“See you soon?” are the last words I hear before the door swings open once again and his presence is gone.

_See you soon._

 

** ** **

Okay, so I get that ‘see you soon’ meant soon, but I didn’t think that it would mean soon _soon._

The soon being, ‘tomorrow’ soon. The day after _soon._

I’d just come back from school, entered the shop and sat down, adjusting to my surroundings and then bam the door swings open and in steps in the guy I just saw yesterday, coming in with a flushed face and the same old black guitar in his hand. “I broke my guitar string.”

My jaw dropped on the floor, because. “It’s only been a day.”

He chuckled nervously, shuffling to the front and places the guitar on the table. “It’s the 6th string this time.” He scratched his neck slowly and unsurely.

I scan over the guitar and spot the broken string with a reluctant sigh. “Yeah, okay, wait a second, let me get the guitar strings from the stock room.”:

Luke nods his head frantically as I move inside the messy stockroom my boss didn’t bother fixing from the day I joined the job, taking an extra five minutes searching for the replacement strings he managed to break within one day before re-appearing outside the stockroom, meeting face to face with a curious blond on the stool, waiting for me to do whatever I was supposed to do.

Cute.

“So,” I started conversationally as I fixed the strings unto the 6th fret, “How many times do you play guitar in a day? You seem to play the guitar hard enough.”

“Well I do it hard like a do a card.” He mumbles before realizing what he just said.

I froze at the words, and look up to him with disbelief crossing my face. “You did not just.”

Luke looks down sadly, kicking the floor slowly. Fuck. “Yeah, sorry.”

Okay, how could one be hot and adorable as fuck at the same time. That’s _illegal._ Unfair. “Don’t do that _ever_ again.”

Luke blinks up, confused. And adorable. “What?”

“Don’t apologize a lot. Really dude, we’re friends now and if you keep apologizing, I’m removing the contract of our friendship.”

Luke opens his mouth, before closing it again, this time smiling cheerfully and why am I paying attention to the god forsaken lip ring that’s slightly tugging at the corner? Fuck. “Okay.” He finally said after a while.

I grinned, satisfied with the how the strings turned out before handing out the guitar to him. “Here ya go.”

** ** **

It becomes regular after that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so this is the end ;_; took me so long idk why

 

* * *

 

** Michael **

So, I don’t know if this was a blessing or curse in disguise, but somehow, I’d say magically Luke’s been coming back with a broken string more often than not.

For the past _three_ months.

I would say blessing, because _fuck yeah_ for blue eyes and hot guys. We’ve gotten closer to the point where I already know about his entire biography. (His brothers, mum, dad, dog, _everything._ )

But at the same time it was a curse, because, _seriously_ holy fucking shit that lip bite thing he does with that piercing is just so hard _not to_ look at.

Plus that quiff.

And that cute smile.

And that adorable little mumbling and stutters he does when he’s embarrassed or when he doesn’t know how to react.

 _Fuck_.

I’m not a saint, and _trying_ to just be ‘friends’ with a customer like Luke makes life much more harder.

“Mate, I don’t know if you’re thinking about this _customer_ of yours right now, but you look constipated.” I snapped back to reality and looked at my shit faced friend, Calum, who was looking back at me with a bright smirk on his face.

Calum’s bright smirks = _trouble_.

I sighed, “Calum, how long are you going to stay here? I don’t want to be distracted when I’m working.” My eyes twitch as I see Calum’s smirk become even wider. I know he would say something along the lines of:  _and yet you let Luke stay here for hours._

“And yet you let Luke stay here for hours.” Calum said. See. _See._ I’m a fucking psychic, shows how much friendship we have over the years. “Don’t be a hypocrite Mikey. I’m just here to see this Luke guy you’re into so much.”

I gave up trying to kick him out. It was useless. Calum was, _Calum_ , afterall.

Just like our prediction, the shop’s door swings open, and the cold breeze from outside slips in, along with a gigantic block, otherwise known as Luke.

I could feel the intense smile of Calum creeping up. I didn’t need to see his face to know all the malicious ploys forming in his head. I guess this is what you get for having a diaper friend.

“Hey,” I greeted Luke and watched him take his beanie and scarf off. Yup, he still looked hot.  “Which string is it this time?”

“Fifth string,  again. Maybe its time…” Luke said when he finally unwraped his scarf, finally looking at my direction. He then noticed the extra figure next to me as he had a huge question mark written on his face.  “…to change my guitar.”

I sighed. “Luke, this guy here is Calum. Calum, you’ve met Luke now, now please leave.”

Calum seemingly ignored me and looked at Luke. “Hey man, so you’re the guy who keeps breaking his guitar strings.”

I don’t know if this was weird, but Luke suddenly shifted his eyes on the ground, fumbling with his hands. It was as if he reverted to his old behavior to when he first came here. It felt like it went back to square one.

Why was he acting like this?

Luke did not verbally reply, but he did nod his head, _softly_.

“Why don’t you just buy a new guitar?” Calum continued asking, this time, his demeanour turning dark. For some reason, suddenly I couldn’t understand what was going on anymore. “ _Why_ do you keep going back to Michael?”

Something felt, _odd_. Calum’s tone turned to that of an evil step-mother, like he was taunting Luke for not moping the floor properly. The room suddenly feels chilled even though logically this room should’ve been warm. What was going on?

Analyzing the whole scenario suddenly made me realize the arm being wrapped around my waist. And the body heat, and the heart beat.

 _Oh_.

Calum’s arm was wrapped around my waist. I probably didn’t notice it because of the countless times he’s done that, it felt very natural now. To others, it may seem like he was possessively holding me when in reality it really is just a light, playful, side-embrace.

Then, it dawned on me.

 _Luke_ probably mistook Calum as my boyfriend because of the easily misunderstood type of situation. And maybe that explains the current change of behavior Luke was doing. This was the only reason things are turning out like this right now.

So _this_ was Calum’s plan.

I pushed Calum’s arm away. What an ass. “This isn’t what you think, Luke…” I glared at Calum for putting on this stupid parade. He always does this to any guy I like, which would’ve originally been fine by me,

 _if_ it was any other guy.

But this is Luke. Luke is pure, Luke would take this situation as if his whole world crumbled apart, and I knew how that felt more than anyone else.

Luke’s face is still planted on the ground, and I can still feel is oozing sadness out of him. My heart felt like it survived a hundred needles in one go. “Luke, I-“

‘’-I’m  just, uh, gonna leave. Like now.” Luke stammers and makes a quick turn. “So, uh. Yeah.”

My whole body turned numb, and it felt like I was hopeless, like it was game over. As much as I wanted to scream _COME BACK!_ nothing came out of my mouth. It felt bitter, and surprisingly... sad. 

I would’ve been frozen in my place until Luke left the shop. That was, until the unexpected happened.

Calum shouted, “Hey! Stop! Don’t go yet!”

And that seemed to get Luke to retreat himself from touching the door knob, slowly turning back to face us.

Calum let out a sigh of relief. “Thank God, I would’ve been damned if you left.” The confused look on Luke’s face appeared once again. “Look here mate, I was just teasin’ ya. Me and Mikey are just best buds since birth, nothin’ more. I just popped in and decided to see the boy Mikey’s been bragging about, that’s all.”

Luke’s blue, blue eyes widen and it was the cutest thing I had ever seen. “You.. _talk_ about me?”

My face flushes. So _that_ was his question? “Uh, Yeah. Sometimes.”

“Please, its always _Luke was like this yesterday, Luke’s eyes are pretty, Luke’s face is hot, Luke’s lip ring turns me on, Luke’s body make me want to-_ “

I quickly covered his mouth to stop that last sentence from escaping. It final, Calum is a fucking bitch. Calum licks my palm, making me pull off and scrunch in disgust.

“Sorry Luke, Calum’s just really- _Holy shit_ Luke you’re red as fuck.” And I’m not even kidding. He was literally red _all over_ , even his scarf and sweater were red.

Looking at him made _me_ go red. How could someone blushing be adorable as fuck? Luke Hemmings would always be the answer.

Calum looked at both of us and tsked. “I can’t believe how ridiculous you both are. Just tell eachother you like eachother, make up, make out, the end.”

For once, that wasn’t a bad idea.

Before I knew it, Calum was already near the door, reaching for the door knob. “Have fun! I’m leaving now, it was nice meeting ya, Luke! Sorry for teasin’ ya!” two seconds before the door swings shut, Calum shouts. “And by the way, I like _boobs_!”

I looked at Luke, rather stared at him, waiting for something to happen. What was supposed to happen now? Should I go near him and say something, or..?

Few minutes of contemplation and I finally walked over to him. Weird enough, he wasn’t facing me yet. “Uh, Luke. So. How’s the weathe- _oomph!_ ” I fell on the ground with Luke ontop of me.

_With his lips crashed to mine._

For a shy person, this kiss was _fucking_ intense, it was shocking; a pleasant surprise because it was just how I liked it.

We didn’t need to go through the cliches of I-like-you’s because it was understandable.

_Luke was mine._

******

“You still need to fix, uh, my string. It’s really broken.”

“Is it everyday that you break your guitar strings?”

“I only break them to see you.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay and this marks the end :) to all you who still read this, congrats for keeping up (Y)  
> tbh i do one shote any pairing of the boys requests, so feel free to bombard me w ur requests :))))


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